Marcus Freeman Talks Notre Dame's Lack Of Home Success, Logan Diggs, More
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The pains have kept growing for Marcus Freeman in his first season as Notre Dame head football coach. A home loss to Marshall seemed in the team’s rear view mirror, but a three-game winning streak was halted by Stanford Saturday night.
Freeman and the Irish are back to regroup mode as they prepare for another home game against UNLV this week.
Home And Away
Notre Dame had won 26 consecutive home games before Cincinnati ended that run last season. The Irish won their last four games at Notre Dame Stadium last year, only to see Marshall stomp out that brief run of success with a 26-21 upset of the Irish on Sept. 10.
The Fighting Irish are now 1-2 at home this season against Marshall, California and Stanford, but 2-1 away from home, with a narrow loss against No. 2 Ohio State and wins over currently No. 22 North Carolina and formerly 16th ranked BYU. Those teams have a combined 12-4 record.
Why the disparity in how Notre Dame performs away from home against better competition and at home against inferior teams whose combined record is 8-10?
"Why haven’t we played as well at home,” Freeman asked out loud at his press conference this week. "Why haven’t played as well really versus opponents maybe that haven’t been ranked as high? And it starts from the top down and looking at everything we do; the way we’ve prepared, the way we motivate, what we do on game days, what we do at home versus what we do away. There is no just one answer, because if there was we would fix it. But it’s truly an evaluation of everything that goes into it and why we haven’t been able to execute here especially in Notre Dame Stadium and versus the opponents we’ve faced and what we have to do to correct that. We’re going to have a plan and we’re going to approach it in practice and we’re going to attack it in hope that on Saturday the results when it matters are what you want.”
Logan’s Digging It Up
Logan Diggs has continued to thrive in Notre Dame’s three-man running back rotation with Audric Estime and Chris Tyree. Diggs and Estime shared the team lead with 57 rushing yards Saturday. He also had one catch for five yards. The sophomore currently has 224 yards from scrimmage on 41 total touches. He continues to look stronger after having shoulder surgery after the Blue-Gold Game.
"Logan’s so talented,” Freeman said. "He’s just a guy that we really over the past couple of months you know, coming off of the shoulder surgery, not playing much early in the season, to where he’s at now, has really stepped up to the challenge with the way he practices and the way he approaches game days. What you see on Saturdays is a reflection of that. The thing I love about Logan is his attitude, his team first mentality of not counting how many carries he’s getting (or) how many plays, but making the plays count and it’s really, really good to see.”
Mitchell Evans Returns
Tight end Mitchell Evans played in all 13 games for Notre Dame as a true freshman last year, but he missed Notre Dame’s first five games this season after breaking a bone in his foot over the summer. He didn’t officially have a catch in his debut against Stanford, because a touchdown was called back on an illegal formation penalty.
"I thought he did a good job,” Freeman said of Evans. "I don’t know exactly how many plays he played, but he played a good amount. It’s good to have Mitchell Evans back. I think he brings something to our offense in the run and the pass game. You add him in addition to those two freshmen, Eli (Raridon) and Holden (Staes), our tight end room, I think, is in really good hands, with Michael Mayer obviously, but without Michael Mayer, too, in the future.”
Xavier Watts Making His Mark
Xavier Watts moved to safety from wide receiver last year. He stayed at that position, but also cross trained at receiver during fall camp due to lack of depth at that position. He is now full-time at safety again and has seen increased playing time over the last three games. His seven tackles against Stanford tied him with Gabriel Rubio for the second-most for the Irish.
"He has so much natural ability,” Freeman said of the junior. "He’s still learning the position. He moved there part way through the season last year, to the safety position. But he has a lot of natural talent. He got a greater opportunity on Saturday, because you took Ramon (Henderson) and moved him to nickel in place of TaRiq (Bracy) and Jaden Mickey. He did a good job with his opportunity. As long as X continues to grow...talent is one thing, but the skills to do it, to do exactly what you’re coached to do and exactly what is necessary for the position is another thing. He’s still developing that talent, that God given ability that he has to be an elite safety. But I think he has all the ability in the world to do that.”
Nana Osafo-Mensah On The Rise
Defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah continues to turn in quality playing time this season. The senior had 13 tackles all of last season and he now has seven this season after recording two tackles against Stanford. He had a pass breakup against the Cardinal as well.
“Nana has really showed up,” Freeman said. “I think that’s the most he’s...the most amount of plays he’s ever played. But it’s the most production he’s had, too. He’s done a really good job developing and practicing. That’s the one thing I said to (defensive line) Coach (Al) Washington on Sunday. We were watching film and I said how many plays did NaNa play? He needs to play more. He’s doing a heck of a job when he’s in there and continuously finding ways to improve and it’s been really good to see.”
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